LAGOS, Feb. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- Hospitals and clinics in the northern Nigerian state of Kaduna, where Africa's first H5N1 bird flu virus was found, have been placed on alert to promptly handle any reported case of human infection of the disease, state media reported on Sunday.

    The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Saturday that two children in the state were suspected to have been infected by the deadly virus and that experts will send samples abroad for confirmation, if necessary.

    The official News Agency of Nigeria quoted Abdulhamid Abubakar, chairman of Kaduna state emergency committee on bird flu, as saying that all suspected cases of fever and coughing following the consumption of chicken should be immediately reported to health authorities for immediate investigations.

    Abubakar said that the committee would take awareness campaign to places of worship to ensure that the disease was controlled.

    He said that the committee would use the national immunization days to take the campaign to households throughout the state.

    Meanwhile, experts from the international institutions like the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the WHO continued to arrive in the country on Sunday to provide technical assistance to combat the outbreak.

    Nigeria is the first on the continent, which many believe is ill-equipped to handle an epidemic, to report an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus that has claimed at least 90 lives, mostly in Asia, since 1997.

    Agriculture Minister Alhaji Adamu Bello suspected the virus was brought through birds from Asia and Europe that have migrated into its wetlands in winter. Enditem